Linda and I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to travel today. The same winds that were on Lake Ontario were also in our area only better protected by the trees and buildings... or so we thought. Since Friday looked to be a good travel day for the lake, we decided to try it and see how it goes.
We missed the signs from above. About 10 minutes into our day we encountered E-23 our last lock for the Erie portion of the NY Canal Systems. The winds were actually not bad at all and of course there were no waves. We hailed the lock master but did not receive a reply. After 4 more attempts we phoned, and phoned a few more times, but the line was busy. We sounded our horn with 3 blasts but still nothing. Finally we dug into the package that was given to us when we purchased the $50 pass and phoned the supervisor. They, too, were surprised and very apologetic that no one was manning the lock. So we ended up tying up to the wall and waiting 30 minutes for the supervisor to arrive and let us through.
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| The Turn at Three Rivers |
It was a slow start but we were on our way again. We soon made the turn into the Oswego Canal and passed by a fairly modern maintenance shed for the NY Canal Authority.The Oswego Canal did not look as well maintained nor as wide or as pretty as the Erie Canal but still the ride was good and we were making decent time after the early delay. We arrived at lock 1 and were promptly allowed in. Uh-oh, no lines to grab just a cable. This presented a problem for us because the cable can only be reached from our swim platform but needs to be tied at our mid cleat. We were not prepared as this was the first occurrence of this configuration. So while I am trying to keep the boat steady in the lock, I am trying to explain to Linda what I think we have to do. I ran to the side threw her the line from the mid cleat and then ran back to the helm to get the boat in the center again. Once we manoeuvred the boat to the wall and Linda had looped the line behind the cable, I ran up front got the boat hook and grabbed the line to tie to the cleat. Whew, we did it... and on the fly, too.
The next lock was different again it had lines only. No problem we used the techniques that worked well for us on the Erie Canal. As we started the 17 foot drop the wind came whipping over the top and was pushing us, pushing hard, away for the wall. We struggled and needed all of our strength to stop the boat from being pushed to the other side. After we cleared the lock, we decided that we needed to free up the cleats so that we could use them to hold the boat against the wind.
Lock 3 was cables only again so we reverted to what we had done in Lock 1; me tossing Linda the line from the mid-cleat and then me positioning the boat so that she could loop it around and then me running to snag the line with a boat hook. It worked well and actually looked like we knew what we were doing.
Lock 5 (there was no Lock 4??) had some lines over the lock walls as well as cables. New plan, again on the fly, I asked Linda to loop our stern line around the cable so that I could go forward and fish up one of the lines. The stern line had been removed (see Lock 2 ) so it was not ready. After some short manoeuvring in the lock, the wind keeps getting worse by the way, Linda has the cable and I grab the line. We got down no problem.
Locks 6, 7 and 8 are in quick succession right in the town of Oswego. We enter Lock 6 and see that it has lines like the Erie Canal. Linda grabs hers and I fish mine up from 5 feet below my deck and everything seems hunky-dory for the 20 foot drop. As we go down the wind whips around the power generating station and it is all that I can do to hold the boat, using the cleat, ... Linda cannot. The stern had swung out so far that Linda had no more line to hold onto. She screamed my name. I let go of my line and dashed to the helm and started driving the boat in the lock. I was amazed that I needed as much power as I used but I managed to stop us from hitting either wall. We were both stressed and sucking wind.
No rest for the wicked though. I could see the next lock even before we had cleared the last. Oh my. We had no choice, we had to go in. This lock had pipes and lines so Linda grabbed a pipe and I a line. As it turned out 7 and 8 did not present any surprises and we were almost home for the night.
I do not have any photos but as we cleared Lock 8, we could see that the wind was so strong that the waves were crashing over the break wall which protects the harbor. Fortunately the Oswego Marina was right close and fully protected. Despite the wind we were able to dock smoothly and soon were on our way to the Press Box, the nearest bar. The beer went down easily and after a couple we were finally relaxed enough to watch the golf and join the conversations at the bar.
What a day.
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